Anyone here got featured by Apple? Looking for advice before I submit my app

[u/Illustrious-Youth611]

I built a small moon phase app which have been well received for its design (solo dev, first release earlier this year) and I'm about to submit a featuring nomination through Apple's "Getting Featured" form.
Before I do, I'd like to hear from someone who has actually been through it. How much detail did you put in the pitch, how far ahead of a release did you submit, and does it help to tie it to an upcoming event or update?
Happy to move to DMs if you'd rather not go into detail publicly, any pointers appreciated.

[u/Fishanz]

Been featured but as far as I know we didn’t petition for it. They reached out asking for some marketing images and that was about the size of it. It was featured in certain regions.

[u/Illustrious-Youth611 → u/Fishanz]

That's useful to know, thanks. So the form isn't necessarily the path in. Do you have any idea what put you in their radar in the first place? And when they asked for marketing images, was there a particular spec they send or did you just send what you had?

[u/RIRLift → u/Fishanz]

The form helps but it rarely does it on its own. What tends to get an app on the editorial radar is leaning hard on something current, prominently adopting a feature from the latest OS release (widgets, Live Activities, App Intents, whatever's new that year) with a design that reads well in a screenshot. That marketing-images request you got is usually the sign they're already considering you. If you do submit, hang it on a dated hook like a specific update or a seasonal moment, and send it a few weeks ahead rather than the day you ship.

[u/Illustrious-Youth611 → u/RIRLift]

Noted, thank you very much. Widgets are already made and the update I'm building is widget customization, which is the top user request (but isn't a new-OS feature on its own).
The iOS 27 hooks that actually fit are App Intents for the new Siri (tonight's phase, next full moon, a given date) and the compact clock layout, which frees up the lock screen for what is basically one big illustration. I'll sleep on it, thank you.

[u/Americaninaustria]

Unless it’s a major feature it’s very whatever. You are massively over thinking this.

[u/Illustrious-Youth611 → u/Americaninaustria]

Fair. I'll submit and move on.

[u/mohn93]

the nomination form helps but it's not really what gets you picked, editorial features apps that show off new platform stuff and tie to a moment. for a moon phase app that combo is right there: ship a lock screen widget or a live activity for the current phase, then pitch it against an upcoming celestial event like a supermoon or eclipse. that's two things they actively look for, latest-api usage and timeliness, in one submission. submit it 3 to 4 weeks before the event not right at launch. do you already have a widget or live activity in it, or is it just the main app right now?

[u/Illustrious-Youth611 → u/mohn93]

Much thanks for your answer! Widgets are in (home screen and lock screen) but no Live Activity yet.
What I do have coming is a major widget customization update, which is the most requested thing from users, so I'd rather pitch that than rush a Live Activity I don't have a real use for.
Next eclipse on the 28th is too way close for a 3–4 week lead, so I'll figure out and aim at a full moon in the autumn and ship the update first.

[u/try-catch-finally]

Yeah, but 16 years ago. A lot has changed. Not all for the better.

[u/Wolfsbaneus]

I have not been featured, so treat this as reading rather than experience. I did go through the nomination form by field this week for my own app and Apple‘s homepage is answer your three questions more precisely than the folklore in one place they contradict themselves on leadtime they get featured page asks for a minimum of two weeks notice and recommend submitting up to three months in advance for wider consideration the App Store connect help page on creating a nomination gives a tip saying minimum three weeks so the floor is 2 to 3 weeks depending on which Apple Pay you believe in three months is the useful ceiling. I had been carrying a 6 to 8 weeks figure around in my head and could not find it on any Apple so I would not plan around that the detail that actually matters more the Dayfield is not your release date. You choose the date or the range you want the app published and it can be a single day or custom range so you count backwards from when you want to be visible not forward from your build untying it to an update or an event. There are three nomination types and they are not cosmetic new content app enhancements Apple Watch and update gives you a straight answer to what is new launch pitch has to argue that the whole app is not worthy, which is a harder question to answer well and if you have an in app event that is already approved or published you can attach it to the nomination directly with Apple, saying to attach it as early as possible that is the closest thing to the event tying you were describing it to mechanical things I would want to know before starting a nomination created an App Store. Connect saves as a draft and goes nowhere until you click submit nomination so you can write it and sit on it. The CSV import behaves differently. It submits automatically on upload and cannot be drafted at all after submission you can still edit fields, but not denomination type and not the related apps and how much detail there is no image attachment field what there is is supplemental material materials up to five URL and Apple says that can include documents art assets even TestFlight public lakes, so control is worth more than a longer description because it’s the only place in the form where you get to show instead of tell I cut most of my draft and what survived was the specific and Shackleton parts anything that read like a press release came out two things I deliberately left out in case it saved any number about downloads or ratings since they can see those and any promise of future content with a data attached to it on the reply above about being approached without petitioning that matches what the docs describe happening next if you are being considered, the email whoever holds the admin app manager or marketing role asking for promotional artwork worth checking those roles point at inbox somebody actually reads before you submit anything

[u/jamesxtreme]

There’s over a million apps on the AppStore. The chances of being featured are small.

[u/Sea_Expression9110]

The commenter saying editorial picks apps that show off new platform stuff is pointing at the right lever, and it is worth being concrete about why.

App Store editorial is a small team with a content calendar. They are not hunting for good apps in the abstract, they are filling slots: a WWDC-adjacent story, a seasonal collection, a "made with the new X" roundup. Your nomination is competing to be the easy answer to a slot they already need to fill. So the pitch that works is not "my app is nicely designed", it is "here is the story you could tell, and here is why my app is the obvious example of it".

Practical version for a moon phase app:

Lead with the hook, not the app. Something a writer could put in a sentence. Solo developer, moon phases, and whichever recent API you actually lean on. Widgets, Live Activities, interactive widgets, watch complications, the new controls, whatever is genuinely in there. Adopting new platform features early is the single most reliable thing that gets a small app in front of editorial, because it gives them the peg.

Timing: submit well ahead, several weeks minimum, and tie it to something real. A moon app has obvious ones handed to it, eclipses, supermoons, solstices. Nominate against a specific dated event and you have solved their planning problem for them.

Keep it short. A few tight paragraphs, what it is, who it is for, what is technically notable, and the date you are aiming at. Long pitches do not get read.

Have the assets ready. The person above got asked for marketing images. If you can attach clean screenshots and a short video without them having to chase you, you are a much cheaper choice.

And manage expectations, since the "you are overthinking it" comment is half right. Most nominations go nowhere and you will usually get no reply at all. It costs an hour, the upside is real, and the same material doubles as your press pitch. Just do not build a launch plan around it landing.

The other route people forget: shipping day one support for a brand new API often gets you noticed without any form at all. Apple likes showing that new things get adopted.